Knox County Commission Delays Budget Vote

Knoxville (WVLT) - The Knox County Commission hasn't given the final OK on how it'll spend your money.

The commissioners voted to push back a vote on the county's $614 million budget. But they don't have much time.

Time's of the essence because the budget has to approved before July first. That's when it'll take effect.

Tuesday, the commission decided to delay the vote to a special meeting on or before June 15th.

Commissioners also will hold a workshop with the Knox County School Board and a public meeting so you can have more input.

The budget doesn't include a property tax increase.

But was balanced on uncertain state education funding and that seemed to be the center of Tuesday's debate.

The budget contains controversial travel allowances to top county officials, but that wasn't brought up.

While the overall budget wasn't approved, the commission did pass the $87 million bond issue that pays for the Sheriff Department's pension plan.

Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale says the commission made the right choice.

"When you present a budget that funds the schools appropriately, takes cares of law enforcement and public health without a tax increase, I think that's a very good thing,” says Ragsdale. “If they have questions we need to answer them, also if the citizens want to comment further on the budget, we would certainly welcome their input and opinion and so I think they did the appropriate thing.”

We'll continue to follow this budget story until a final decision is made.

If you want to check-out the full budget for yourself, follow the link below.

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